Tomorrow’s Sovereign’s Lunch Gets Political as Spanish Queen Cancels, and King of Bahrain is Expected

by Tom Sykes May 17, 2012 5:17 AM EDT

Lunch list causes problems

Tomorrow’s Sovereign’s Lunch, to be hosted by the Queen at Windsor castle is turning out to be a surprisingly controversial affair.

Human rights activists are expected in force to protest the invitation of the King of Bahrain, when the Arab country is in the grip of a popular uprising being suppressed by government forces, and now Spain’s Queen Sofia has snubbed Britain’s royal family by cancelling in protest at an upcoming visit by Prince Edward to the British territory of Gibraltar, which lies just off the coast of Spain.

In a surprisingly forthright statement, the royal palace in Madrid said, “The government has considered that, under the current circumstances, in would be inappropriate for Queen Sofia to attend Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee.”

Spain has long claimed sovereignty over the Rock of Gibraltar, which has been British for the past 300 years, but relations between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar have deteriorated since Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s People’s party took power in December.

The British ambassador was summoned to Spain’s foreign ministry to discuss Prince Edward’s planned June trip to the Rock.

“During the course of the conversation, and amongst other topics, [officials] were able to express the disgust and upset of the government for the visit of the royal highnesses the Count and Countess of Wessex to Gibraltar from June 11 to 13,” a foreign ministry statement said at the time.

The Guardian in the UK says that the cancellation comes as Spain’s royal family is under intense scrutiny at home after King Juan Carlos was forced to apologise for going elephant-hunting in Botswana while ordinary Spaniards suffered austerity, recession and unemployment, and added that Sofia’s trip to join in the celebrations may also have looked awkward alongside the complete absence of public celebration in Spain to mark the golden wedding of Sofia and Juan Carlos last week.

The couple are reported to be effectively separated, with Sofia reportedly spending much of her time abroad with her daughters.

So-called “disproportionate checks” at the border have increased tensions between Britain and Spain recently and the Spanish ambassador was summoned to Britain’s Foreign Office last week to explain why people crossing the border were having to wait up to seven hours in sweltering heat.

Britain has held Gibraltar for three centuries and its 2.6 square miles is home to 30,000 people, with an economy dominated by offshore banking, internet gambling operations and tourism.

However, ownership of the territory has long been a point of contention between Spain and Britain.

The latest spat began 10 days ago after Gibraltarian boats began dumping blocks of concrete into the sea near the territory to create the artificial reef to foster fish populations.